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"Nothing in politics ever happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way."

A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.

A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.

Favor comes because for a brief moment in the great space of human change and progress some general human purpose finds in him a satisfactory embodiment.

Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.

I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.

I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues.

If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships — the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.

If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships — the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.

In our seeking for economic and political progress, we all go up — or else we all go down.

It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

It isn't sufficient just to want — you've got to ask yourself what you are going to do to get the things you want.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.

There are as many opinions as there are experts.

[Roosevelt's] Secretary of State, Sumner Welles, once said "Somoza's a bastard!" And Roosevelt replied, "Yes, but he's our bastard."[1]

Peace, like charity, begins at home.

“If I went to work in a factory the first thing I'd do is join a union.”

I like this quote, it is reqularly repeated and would like to use it but I can't find a good reference to support it. Is it a real quote, a mis-quote or what? can anyone help? PeterEastern 12:38, 25 June 2011 (UTC)

"After his election in 1932, FDR met with Sidney Hillman and other labor leaders, many of them active Socialists with whom he had worked over the past decade or more. Hillman and his allies arrived with plans they wanted the new President to implement. Roosevelt told them: "I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it."

Martin Berg, WheresOurMoney.org editor, researched allegations that FDR had said, "Make me do it" to Wikipedia:A. Philip Randolph. Berg concluded, "Far from encouraging the civil rights leaders to make him end discrimination, Roosevelt did everything he could to resist their pressure, according to Randolph’s biographers. Only when he was convinced that they wouldn’t buckle to presidential persuasion did FDR" issue "Executive Order 8802 barring discrimination in the defense industries. Randolph and his colleagues then canceled the march" on Washington they had planned.[3]DavidMCEddy (talk) 20:21, 9 December 2012 (UTC)

No myth, FDR really did say that. It was his way of telling people that everything people were loseing- during the great depression were just material things, and we could get our selves out of this; in some peoples opinion anyway. Discussion: in the book "To Kill Mockingbird" the county Maycomb "had recently been told that there was nothing to fear but fear itself". This is one of the most important quotes in the book; but why and what does it mean to the people and time period?